Police: BB gun of teen killed by cop looked like firearm

Columbus' police chief said Thursday that the BB gun 13-year-old Tyree King allegedly pulled from his waistband before he was killed by an officer "looks like a firearm that could kill you."

Chief Kim Jacobs, speaking to reporters at a news conference, held up a photo of the type of gun found at the scene and said “our officers carry a gun that looks practically identical to this weapon."

"It turns out to not be a firearm in the sense that it fires real bullet, but as you can see it looks like a firearm that could kill you," Jacobs said.

Police said officers investigating a reported armed robbery in east Columbus on Wednesday night were told by a male victim that a group of people approached him and demanded money. One of them, he told officers, had a gun.

Officers said they were attempting to speak with three people down the street who matched the descriptions of the male suspects when two of them fled on foot.

"Officers followed the males to the alley ... and attempted to take them into custody when one suspect pulled a gun from his waistband. One officer shot and struck the suspect multiple times," according to a police statement.

King, the African-American teen who allegedly pulled the weapon from his waistband, was shot by Officer Brian Mason, who is white and a nine-year veteran of the force. King was taken to the Nationwide Children's Hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead, according to the police statement.

Police said the gun, found at the scene, was later determined to be a BB gun with an attached laser sight. Jacobs said officers were not wearing body cameras, and police were trying to see if any surveillance video captured the shooting.

Demetrius Braxton, 19, who fled on foot with King, told The Columbus Dispatch that King wanted to rob someone. “I was in the situation,” he said. “We robbed somebody, the people I was with."

After police gave chase, Braxton said, the pair initially heeded police orders to get down, but then King "got up and ran."

"When he ran, the cops shot him," he told the newspaper, adding the bullets hit King four or five times. “I didn’t think a cop would shoot. Why didn’t they Tase him?" Braxton said.

Jason Pappas, president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, told the Dispatch that he spoke with the officer involved.

“Officers do not have the luxury of knowing if it’s a real gun or not,” Pappas said. “So two young men who were suspects in this armed robbery separated and ran. One of them was ordered to show his hands and go to the ground, and he complied.”

Jacobs promised a full investigation of the shooting, with the results to be sent to a grand jury. "We want all the right answers, not quick answers," she said.

The chief said she would "not let an officer out on the street to perform their job if I don't trust them to be capable of doing it."

Jacobs said it was too soon to draw comparisons between King's death and the Cleveland death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, another case in which a white policeman fatally shot a black boy who had a pellet gun.

Rice was shot by a rookie officer investigating a report of someone point a gun at people near a recreation center. Although the caller said the person was probably young and the weapon likely a fake, the information did not get passed along to the officer, who shot Tamir almost immediately after stopping his police cruiser nearby.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said officials had been meeting with religious and community leaders and that it was important for city officials to be "responsive and accessible."

"We want to be open and transparent with the public and the community, but we must make sure we have good information that can be documented and substantiated," he said. "It is absolutely critical that we get this right."

At one point, Ginther appeared to choke up as he said everyone should be "shocked and angry" by the shooting.

“There is something wrong in this country, and it is bringing its epidemic to our city streets,” the mayor said. “And a 13-year-old is dead in the city of Columbus because of our obsession with guns and violence.”